Stronger than Haki
by Luviant X
Summary: After Boa Hancock had winked at Luffy, Nami asks her captain what he was really doing at Amazon Lily. Will she get the answer she wants, or will she find out a dark secret that will pull her farther away from her captain?


A/N: One Piece is written by Eiichiro Oda and published by Shueisha. So please don't sue me for "mirrion dorrar".

* * *

><p><em>Yeah, I was blown to the isle of women. So they're all my friends.<em>

Nami pondered Luffy's words as she sat down on the deck of the _Thousand Sunny_. The ship plunged deeper into the ocean on route to _Fishman Island_. Sea creatures, some even larger than the ship itself, swam nearby. The crew, sans Franky, Brook, Chopper, and Sanji, had returned to their quarters after eating the lunch Boa Hancock had made for Luffy.

Two years ago Luffy seemingly didn't have any interest in women. But he had spent those years on the isle with the most attractive woman in the world. Luffy was an idiot, sure, but he was still a man. Sooner or later he would notice the opposite gender as more than anyone he could be friends with. And Nami wouldn't have been surprised if Boa Hancock had awakened this awareness in him.

_What really happened on Amazon Lily? _Nami asked herself, wrapping her arms around her body.

She pressed her back against a wall as a guitar's riff from above startled her. Brook sat on the railing, humming a peaceful song. It was hard to tell what expression was showing on his face, but whenever he played music, you could sense the cold emotion through the melodies he sang.

He opened his mouth in a smile only a skeleton could have.

"Nami," he said quietly. "Can I see your panties?"

Nami sighed. She clacked up the stairway that led to where Brook sat. As she reached the top, Brook turned around, surely wondering if she was going to flash her panties this time.

Nami reached down to her jeans' beltline and attacked before Brook saw it coming. Her staff ran through his eyehole and clacked against the inside of his skull. He fell over the rail backward and thumped onto the ground below.

"You might have broken my heart!" Nami heard him say. "Only…I don't have one, yohohohohohoho!—Skull joke!"

…_That hentai!_ Nami thought as she stowed her staff away and stepped back down the stairs. Brook sat up and watched her as she sat back down against the wall.

"Anything wrong, Nami?"

"Nothing's wrong. Why do you ask?"

"You seemed out of it," said Brook, fixing his hat back onto his afro. "Don't worry, Sanji will be fine."

Nami pulled out her staff and clonked the skeleton upon his skull. She didn't strike as hard this time, only because what he had said was partly true; she _was_ a little worried about Sanji, for as Chopper flashed photographs of Robin and me posing farther down the deck, the cook stared at them like an ape, his eyes literal throbbing hearts as blood spilled from his nostrils. Either way the cook wasn't the direst of her concerns.

"Why would I be worried about _him_?" she said, keeping her staff out in case she had to hit Brook again. "For once, he's not swooning over me... unless you count those photographs…."

"Yohohohoho! That's true," said Brook. "Well, if he's not worrying you, could it be Luffy?"

Nami bit her lip.

"That scar on his chest looked painful," he explained. "But I wouldn't know! I'm all bones!"

Nami raised her staff threateningly, and Brook stopped laughing.

"A-anyway, maybe you should go talk to him. You might not get another chance since we'll be crossing into the New World soon."

Nami sighed before she jumped to her feet.

"Hey, I think you might be right," she said, smiling. "Thanks, Brook."

Brook leaned his skull very close to her face.

"If you're really thankful, would you be so kind as to show me your—"

A dark cloud appeared over Brook's head as Nami walked away. A flash of light washed over the wooden walls and Brook screamed. Peering over her shoulder, Nami watched as a lightning bolt cracked over Brook.

"Oh!—it's burning my skin! But I don't have any! Yohohohoho!"

Nami slapped her hand against her forehead before she walked to the door and pulled it open. As she headed into the dark corridor, Brook's laughter continued. The racket ceased when the door boomed shut behind her.

She leaned against the door and closed her eyes. Did Brook really know what she was feeling? Did he intentionally push her into talking to Luffy?

Regardless of Brook's intentions, he was right. This might be her last chance for a while to talk to him in private. After lunch Luffy had said he had been so excited reuniting with the crew that he had not slept the entire journey to Shabody Peninsula, and the lack of sleep was finally taking its toll on him.

She worried herself what Luffy might say concerning Hancock, but this was her best chance to know what truly happened on Amazon Lily.

Taking a deep breath, she rapped her knuckle against the firm wood of Luffy's door. The door—having not been fully closed—creaked open. There, on the bed, lay the captain, but not in his usual form.

He lay on his hammock, resembling a blowfish with a little head, meat and crumbs tumbling down his lips, a bubble protruding from his nose. He snored loudly, so that when she closed the door, he did not stir.

"Luffy?" she asked, stepping closer.

She placed her hands over his bulging stomach. She touched the cross-shaped scar there and frowned. When she had first seen it, she couldn't think what to say. The captain had already lost his brother. She wished he didn't have to suffer any more pain.

After calling his name and rocking his bulging form, she figured there was only one way to wake up the four hundred million berri pirate.

"Luffy, I brought some meat…"

Luffy's eyes flickered open. His pudgy face turned over to her, his eyes literal smoking slabs of meat.

"Where," he said, with near-murderous intent.

Nami almost regretted waking him up in this manner, but it was the only way. She sat down in a chair next to him and looked at him squarely.

"You've had more than enough, Captain. I'm here…to ask you something."

"Huh?" Luffy's eyes became small dots. "What's the matter?"

He tried to sit up and almost fell onto the floor.

"Please don't get up," Nami said before she sighed. "It's just that…I want to know about your time on Amazon Lily."

Luffy frowned. "Why do you want to know about that?"

Nami avoided his eyes.

"Oh, uh," she said, "well it's strange for you to know a Shikibukai, and I was wondering how you became friends."

"Oh, Hancock! She's the best! She helped me tons of times!"

An impulsive shiver ran through Nami, but she had to know more. She had to know what Hancock was to him.

"When she winked at you…before we left Shabody," she said, twiddling her fingers. "It's just that…you two seemed very close."

Luffy laughed and slapped his belly.

"What do you expect—we're friends. Hmm…" he tapped his cheek. "We did fight though when we first met."

Nami looked at him, and he continued.

"Everyone attacked me at first," he said before he laughed. "And I fell into Hancock's bath!"

Nami's eyes dilated. "What! Did you…see her?"

"What do you mean?" He asked. "Of course I saw her!"

Nami scowled. "I mean did you see her without her…err clothes."

"Oh, yeah! Shishishishishi," he laughed. "She's _always_ naked!"

A cold feeling of dread ran through Nami. She lowered her head as that feeling inside gripped at her once more. She should have known. That wink had told her as much. To think that a man, two years with the most beautiful woman in the world could keep his pants on was foolish. She bit her lip as tears threatened to fall.

"She even asked to marry me," said Luffy, not noticing Nami's anguish. "But Rayleigh told me what marriage was."

Nami looked up at him, and Luffy stuck out his tongue.

"So when she asked me again, I told her no!"

"What?"

Luffy made a fist.

"She's my friend, but the only persons I want to stay with for the rest of my life is my crew!"

Luffy grinned. Then he stretched his arm and patted Nami on her shoulder.

"So don't worry. I wasn't going to pick her over you and the crew."

"Really, Luffy?"

"Of course! Even if she had all the meat in the world…" His eyes suddenly became slabs of meat again. "But we'd have to stop there every now and then."

Nami smiled. The pain had vanished as if it were never there.

She laughed. What she had learned from him just now was enough. She felt as if she had triumphed over her biggest enemy. She still had a ways to go in her most important goal, but for now, she was happy that she was going to spend, hopefully, the rest of her life with her Captain, helping him become the Pirate King so they could have freedom on the high seas together.

"Hey, Nami," said Luffy, struggling. "Could you grab me some meat? I can't get up."

Nami smiled sweetly… before she _konked_ him over the head with her staff.

Clearly, she had something more effective than haki.


End file.
